UBS Asset Management’s (UBS-AM) Real Estate & Private Markets (REPM) business has completed the acquisition of a 100 percent interest in Gascan, the second-largest distributor and supplier of piped liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) in Portugal, from Arta Capital. The investment was made on behalf of REPM’s global infrastructure equity strategy, with the transaction completed on an exclusive basis after an unsolicited approach to the Spanish private equity fund Arta Capital.
Gascan distributes and supplies piped LPG throughout Portugal to more than 65,000 customers nationwide distributing over 11,000 tons of gas per year, with a network of over 760 kilometers of pipe and circa 2,050 tanks across the country. The majority of customers are domestic, in residential buildings and using the gas for daily needs such as hot water, cooking and heating. The remainder comprise businesses who are supplied in bulk largely through Gascan’s existing domestic network. Gascan also operates a small but growing thermal energy supply business called EnergyCo, which supplies hot water and steam to business customers.
Gascan’s strategy is to grow both organically through additional pipeline connections but also through acquiring other smaller networks and taking advantage of a highly fragmented piped LPG market in Portugal.